Apparatus for maintining the orientation of stacked bags



March 7, 1961 J. D. SYLVESTER APPARATUS FOR MAINTAINING THE ORIENTATION OF STACKED BAGS Filed Jan. 28, 1960 INVENTOR: JOHN D. SYLVESTER m; 2% A77 Ni? APPARATUS FOR MAINTAINING THE ORIE TION F STACKED BAGS John D'. Sylvester, Garden City, NLY.,

Packaging Machinery, Ind, Long Island City, N.Y., a corporation of New York v Filed Jan". 28, 1960, S91. No. 5,276 3 Claims. (Cl.'154--1) This invention relates to apparatus for temporarily joining a plurality of stacked bags, which are to be used to package merchandise, in order to maintain their stacked orientation between the time they are manufactured and the time they are used. More particularly, the invention relates to such apparatus for use with bags made of heat scalable material.

In the manufacture of bags fabricated from heat-sealable material, such as polyethylene, the bag-making machine delivers the bags in a stacked relationship. It is important to maintain this stacked relationship in order that the bags may be presented to the bag-filling or packaging machine in an orderly manner, since, for thesake of bag-loading efliciency, the successive bags in the stack should be readily accessible with their filling openings always facing in the same direction. However, due to the slippery nature of polyethylene and other heat-sealable materials, the bags readily become disoriented during handling, as when they are packed and transported. specifically the bags have a strong tendency to slide upon one another and thereby become disarranged. Furthermore, restoring the bags to an orderly stacked relationship is a difficult, if not impossible, task inasmuch asthe bagmaterial lacks st'ifiness making the bags extremely limp.

It is the object of the present invention to provide apparatus for preventing the bags from losing the stacked orientation in which they are delivered from the bag making machine. Toward this end, the present apparatus includes a backing against which the stack of bags may be held in taut condition, and a heated piercing tool adapted to penetrate the stack while it is being so held in order to fuse the bags in the region through which the tool passes. Connecting bridges are thereby formed between adjacent baks, each bridge establishing a fi'rm bonding between adjacent bags, yet being of such restricted dimensions that it is sufficiently weak to allow the bags to be individually separated in succession, by application of a sudden pulling force.

The invention is particularly useful with bags of the type in which one of the walls of the bag is elongated to form an extension beyond the filling opening of the bag. If a multiplicity of bags of this character are stacked with the extensions in registry, the tusing together of these extensions along a narrow area transverse to the planes in which the bags lie, will establish a connected relationship suitable for the purpose. The fused area is clear of the filling opening, which remains unimpaired, and lies in an area of the bag that is discarded during the course of the usual bag-sealing operation.

It is a further object of this invention to provide an apparatus which is sturdy, yet of inexpensive construction, and which is extremely simple and easy to operate so that it may be readily used by unskilled persons.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of a bag-joining ap- States Patent assignor to Amsco Phtented Mar. 7, 1961 2 paratus embodying the features of the present invention; Fig. 2 is-a plan view ofFig. 1; a

Fig. 3 is a perspective view, partially. in cross-section, on an enlarged scale, of a stack of bags whose extensions have been joinedby the apparatus otthe present invention; and

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a bag separated from the stack.

Referring now to the drawings, the apparatus chosen for illustration comprises generally a base 10, a backing 1-1 pivotally mounted on the base, and a heated piercing tool 12 stationarily mounted with respect to the'base. The base 10 may be mounted on the bag making machine frame near the delivery end of the latter,'or it may be mounted. on any other convenient supporting surface.

The apparatus may, in addition, at the users option, be

maintained completely portable, and merely rested on any convenient supporting surface without being'fastened to it.

The backing 11 is preferably a rigid channel member,

but under certain circumstances it is contemplated that a somewhat flexible member might be used as well. 'lhe lower end of the backing 11 is pivotally supported by a pin 13 which is mounted adjacent its ends in a bracket The bracket 14, in turn, is fastened to the base 10 near one end of the latter. Near its upper end, the backing 11 is provided with an aperture 15.

The backing 11 is normally maintained at an acute angle to the base, as shown in Fig. 1, by a coil spring 18. The lower and major portion of the spring 1 8surrounds a pin 19 whichis threaded into a wedge-shaped block 20 mounted intermediate the ends of the base 10. The pin 19 projects upwardly at an angle which is complementary to the angle the backing 11 makes with the base. A stop member 16 is threadably mounted on the pin 19. The lower end of the spring 18 bears against the member 16, and by adjusting the height of the latter relative to the pin 19, the angle which the backing 11 normally makes with the base 10 may be varied; The upper end of the spring 18 surrounds'a block 21 mounted intermediate the ends of the backing on the underside thereof, and the spring 18 bears against the underside of the backing in the'region adjacent the block 21. The pin 19v and the block 21, therefore, cooperate to support" the spring 18 and maintain its position. 1

Besides serving to support the spring 18, the pin 19 and block 21 also serve to limit the pivotal movement of the backing 11 toward the base 10. As may readily be seen in Fig. 1, when the backing is pivoted to the position shown in dot-dash lines, the block 21abutsthe pin 19 and prevents further downward movement. The height of the pin 19 may be adjusted by threading it to a greater or lesser extent into the block 20 so that the angle through which the backing 11 is permitted to pivot may be varied.

Mounted on the end of the base 10 opposite to the bracketll is a housing 22. Projecting upwardly from the top of the housing 22, at an angle to the base 10 opposed to the angle which the backing ll makes with the base, is a heated attenuated piercing tool 12. The tool 12 when heated to a predetermined temperature is capable of piercing a stack of heat-sealable bags. The tool 12 is so arranged that it is generally aligned with, and points toward, the aperture 15 in the backing 11. In addition, the member 16 is so adjusted that the backing is normally disposed above the tip of the tool 12, and the pin 19 is so adjusted that when the backing is pivoted downwardly to its lowermost position (indicated by the dot-dash lines in Fig. 1) the tool will project freely through the aperture 15. Within the housing 22 is a conventional electrical devicefor heating the tool 12 and controlling its temperature. Power may be furnished to this device through the conductor 23, and the housing may also be provided with a switch 26 to connect and disconnect the device to the power source, and a signal light 27 which indicates to an operator when the device is energized. l 1 The preferred type of bag with which the apparatus is employed may be seen by referring to Fig; 4. The bag 24 consists of a pair of side walls which are joined on the three edges a, b, and c, leaving a filling opening or bag mouth d. As mentioned before, one of the sidewalls is elongated to form an extension 29 whichprojects beyond the bag mouth d. When the bags are arranged in a stack 28 (Fig. 3), the extensions 29 are in registry, and it is these extensions which are joined in order to maintain the orientation of the bags. During the packaging operation, each bag is sealed along a line beyond the bag mouth, and the extension is discarded, hence the appearance of the final package is not marred.

- In operation, the apparatus is arranged in any con- -venient location, usually near the delivery end of a bag making machine. When a stack of bags is delivered by the machine, an operator picks up the stack 28, grasping each side thereof with one hand. The operator then lays the bags across the backing 11 with the extensions 29 of the bags overlying the aperture 15 in the backing, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 by the dot-dash lines which represent the stack of bags. The stack is then'pulled and braced tautly over the backing, and at the same time the backing is pushed downwardly so as to pivot it toward the base 10. As the backing moves downwardly, the heated piercing tool 12 enters the aperture 15 and penetrates the extensions of the bags thus fusing them together along a confined region surrounding the tool. This fused region is indicated by the reference numeral 30 in Fig. 3. 'When the downward force on the backing 11 is released, the spring 18 returns the backing to its normal position thus withdrawing the tool 12 from the stack 28. The stack may then be removed from the backing and packed 4 an opening therein adapted to be covered by the projections of said stacked bags, spring means normally maintaining said backing at an acute angle to said base but permitting pivotal movement of said backing toward said base, and a heated piercing tool fixed with respect to said base and disposed at an'acute angle to said base opposed to the angle of said backing with said base, said tool aligned with and pointing toward said aperture so that upon pivotal movement of said backing toward said base said tool will project through said aperture and will penetrate said stack of bag projections and fuse the latter together along a confined area.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 including a pin projecting upwardly from said base surrounded by one for shipping to the place where the bags will be filled 'with merchandise. Now, until the bags are used, at which time each bag is individually separated from the stack as needed, the bags will remain in properly stacked orientation throughout their handling. The extension 29 of each separated bag 24 will have a hole 31 where it was penetrated by the tool 12, as may be seen in Fig. 4.

It will be understood that many of the details herein described and illustrated may be modified by those skilled in the art without necessarily departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as expressed in the appended claims. Except as otherwise stated, therefore, it is intended that these details be interpreted as being illustrative only.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for temporarily joining a multiplicity of heat-scalable bags arranged in a stack, said bags each 'having a pair of opposed side walls one of which is longer than the other to form an extension which projects past the bag month, said apparatus comprising a base, a

backing against which the stack of bags may be held in taut condition in order to bring all of said bag side walls into contiguous relation, said backing being pivotally mounted at one end on said base and said backing having end of said spring, and a block projecting downwardly from said backing surrounded by the upper end of said spring, said pin and said block being so arranged that upon movement of said backing through a predetermined angle said block abuts said pin thereby preventing further movement of said backing toward said base.

3. Apparatus for temporarily joining a multiplicity of heat-scalable bags arranged in a stack, said bags each having a pair of opposed side walls one of which is longer than the other to form an extension which projects past the bag mouth, said apparatus comprising a base, a backing against which the stack of bags may be held in taut condition in order to bring all of said bag side walls into contiguous relation, said backing being pivotally mounted at one end on said base and said backing having an opening therein adapted to be covered by the projections of said stacked bags, spring means normally maintaining said backing at an acute angle to said base but permitting pivotal movement of said backing toward said base, a pin projecting upwardly from said base surrounded by one end of said spring, a block projecting downwardly from said backing surrounded by the upper end of said spring, said pin and said block being so arranged that upon movement of said strip through a predetermined angle said block abuts said pin thereby preventing further movement of said backing toward said base, a housing mounted on said base, a heated piercing tool projecting from said housing at an acute angle to said base opposed to the angle of said backing with said base, said tool being aligned with and pointing toward said aperture so that upon pivotal movement of said backing toward said base said tool will project through said aperture and will penetrate said stack of bag projections and fuse the latter together along a confined area, and means within said housing for controlling the temperature of saidneedle.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,103,579 Gluck Dec. 28, 1937 2,244,550 Chandler June 3, 1941 2,564,611 Rumsey Aug. 14, 1951 2,668,403 Rumsey Feb. 9, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS 223,024 Germany June 11, 1910 

